Students’ impassioned plea against their teacher’s transfer goes viral

Video shows children imploring him to stay on

Students of Government Higher Primary School at Kaimara in Chikkamagaluru refusing to let Duggesh Gowda, the teacher, who was transferred, go out of the school. Photo by Special Arrnagement

A video clip of children of a government school refusing to allow their favourite teacher to leave the premises after he was transferred, has gone viral. The students, in tears, are seen stopping the teacher’s bike and hugging him in protest against the transfer.

The incident happened on the Government Higher Primary School campus at Kaimara village near Chikkamagaluru on June 10. However, the video clip, captured by a villager, went viral in the last couple of days.

Duggesh Gowda C.S., the teacher, who served in the school for nearly 13 years, was transferred to Kabbinahalli village in Chikkamagaluru taluk. His last day at Kaimara was June 10. As he walked out of the school after bidding goodbye to his colleagues, the students gathered around him.

“I knew the students would be upset to see me going away. That’s why I avoided meeting them. I just met my colleagues and left the room, only to be stopped by the students,” Mr. Duggesh told The Hindu .

He taught Kannada and social science at the school. Besides that, he had worked towards the development of the school by approaching donors.

Mr. Duggesh also could not control his emotions. He wept along with the children and gave them the false assurance that he would come back soon. “I did not know how to console them. I just told them, I would come back, knowing very well that it was not possible,” he said. In the video, the students are seen asking him for his phone so that they could talk to the block education officer to cancel the transfer. He was transferred because his post was considered extra, considering the current student strength of 95.

The teacher, who has 21 years of experience, said he had a good rapport with all the students. “A majority of the students in that school come from economically weak backgrounds. Their parents are agricultural labourers. The children shared their problems with me, and I responded to them,” he said. Even 20 days after he has left the school, he continues to get calls from students asking him when he will return to their school.